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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.} 



RELIGION AND LIFE. 






BY 



JAMES REED. 




Y 



NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL CONVENTION 
OF THE 

NEW JERUSALEM IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

AT ITS PUBLISHING HOUSE : 

No. 20 Cooper Union. 
1869. 












^A 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, 

By Joseph R. Putnam, Manager, 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the 

Southern District of New York. 



Innes, Regan & Leadbeater, Stereotypers, 
No. 55 Water Street, Boston. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 
I. — HOW TO THINK OF GOD. 
II. — HOW TO THINK OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
III.— THE WAY OF LIFE. 
IV.— THE LIFE HEREAFTER. 



RELIGION AND LIFE. 



FT is an undeniable fact that religion really effects 
nothing for a man, unless he feels it to be vital 
and essential, — that is, something which he person- 
ally needs. There is such a thing as dogmatic 
theology, — abstract theory independent of practice 
and experience. But this is not religion. A man 
may dabble in theology all his lifetime, and yet not 
have the least particle of religion in him. There 
is a difference between theology and religion, like 
that between bread-stuffs and bread. While flour, 
for instance, is in the hands of the merchant, it 
resembles any other article of commerce ; it is some- 
thing to buy and sell, to export and grow rich upon. 
Not until some one buys it for his own use, takes 
it home, prepares it, eats it, and digests it, does it 

5 



6 RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. 

fulfil its legitimate function of nourishment. Mere 
theology is no more to us than any other purely 
intellectual possession, until it is applied to our 
spiritual life. Then it becomes religion ; and then, 
for the first time, we know what religion means. 

Religion has relation to life, and is inseparable 
from it. The word is derived from a Latin word 
which means to " bind back." The primary and all- 
important idea expressed in it is that of " binding," 
of obligation and accountability to a higher and 
anterior power. The truly religious man feels re- 
sponsibilities of which others know nothing. He is 
conscious of having " bound" himself to a better life, 
and a nobler service, than any which the world can 
offer him. In a word, he has undertaken to act in 
all things not from himself, but from God, — to do, 
not his own selfish pleasure, but his Heavenly Father's 
will. He feels his own need of the Divine Presence. 
To him it is not enough to understand and believe. 
He must worship. He must bow down in prayer. 
He must establish and feel a personal relationship 
between himself and God. He must go to the Lord 
in a devout and humble spirit, trying to come under 
the Divine influence, in order that his life may grow 
into accord with the Divine life. 

Those in whom religion is a living reality, cannot 



THE VALUE OF TRUTH. 



be indifferent to any of its truths. They do not 
consider what they believe, to be a matter of small 
moment. Their religious views and principles form, 
as it were, the warp and woof of their minds, — are 
interwoven into their very life. If the true Christian 
is he who, out of regard for the Divine will and law, 
is trying to become a new and better man, then 
surely all knowledge which helps to produce this 
result, is of the utmost value to him. He burns 
with desire of learning everything which may make 
clearer his conception of his duty, — of his relation 
to God and man, — of the future state, and the way 
to prepare for it. In short, all the subjects which 
come within the usual scope of religious doctrines, 
become to him intensely interesting. 

I purpose, in this Essay, to present some ideas 
which, familiar to students of Swedenborg, are to 
others less known ; ideas which form the doctrinal 
foundation of the New Church. 



I. 

HOW TO THINK OF GOD. 

'T^HE first of all questions, — that on which every 
religious belief depends, — refers to God Him- 
self. Who and what is the Divine Being? What 
is the character of His designs and operations? 

Our whole conception of human life, — of its 
duties and responsibilities, — is determined by our 
answer. If we imagine Him an angry and vin- 
dictive being, our faith begets in us very different 
feelings and actions from those we have, if we believe 
Him to be infinitely loving and tender, and incapable 
of anger. If we think it to be a law of His Provi- 
dence that men are free agents, and make them- 
selves happy or miserable in proportion as their 
lives are good or evil, existence is a totally different 
thing to us from what it is if we suppose ourselves 

8 



IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION. 9 

the irresponsible victims of eternal predestination. 
Again : if we conceive God to be a personal being, 
— one who is near us in all our joys and sorrows, — 
we cannot fail to be other men than we should be, 
if He seemed to us only a distant, vague, and philo- 
sophical First Cause. It is idle to say that doctrine 
concerning God is mere matter of theory, which 
is altogether apart from the affairs of daily life. It 
is of all ideas the most directly practical. Whatever 
a man thinks respecting the Deity permeates his 
entire being, shapes his habits of thought, and the 
whole course of his life. See how it governs his 
conduct in the matter of prayer, for instance. It is 
impossible for a man to be in the habit of praying 
to God in spirit and in truth, — going to Him at 
every time of doubt and darkness as to the nearest 
of all his friends; — it is impossible for a man to 
do this, without having his life deeply affected by 
the practice. But how can he pray without some 
distinct conception of the Being to whom he prays? 
Will he not be unutterably thankful for any knowl- 
edge which will make his Heavenly Father a clear 
and vivid reality to his mind? 

There is no doubt of it. Thousands of anxious 
hearts are now yearning for such knowledge. One 
cause, at least, of the prevalence of rationalistic views 



io VAGUENESS OF MODERN IDEAS. 

at the present day, is the misty uncertainty, — un- 
reality, even, — which envelopes the modern theo- 
logical idea of God. All points of religious belief 
are unsettled, if this one is not fixed ; and when 
there is a distinct conception of Him who is the 
object of worship, every form of scepticism vanishes. 
The present condition of mens' minds is strikingly 
manifested in the avidity with which " Ecce Homo," 
"Ecce Deus," and other similar works, professing 
to throw light on the Divine nature and purposes, 
are purchased and read. It is evident that the old 
dogmas of Christianity do not supply the want which 
is now felt. They do not silence the pleading voice 
of humanity, which keeps repeating, Give me my 
heart's desire ; show me a God whom I can in a 
measure comprehend, believe in, love and worship. 
The New Church, in her answer to this prayer, 
teaches that God is one and indivisible, never to 
be conceived of otherwise. The words, " Hear, 
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," are as 
strictly and unequivocally true as any that were ever 
written. They occur at the beginning of, and are 
doubtless essential to, the correct understanding of 
the two great commandments, on which, it is said, 
" hang all the Law and the Prophets." Moreover, 
the same idea underlies the entire Scriptures. The 



ONE GOD, JEHOVAH. n 

Jews are chiefly distinguished from other nations of 
antiquity as the people that worshipped the one God 
invisible to human eyes. Apart from the declara- 
tions of Scripture, the absolute unity of God is 
plainly proclaimed to every reasonable mind that 
reflects on the wondrous unity of plan and structure, 
the harmonious cooperation, of the countless elements 
of nature. 

The one God is Jehovah, the " I Am," the Esse, 
the Source of all being, He who lives by underived 
life from eternity to eternity. All creatures have a 
creation. They are the products and receptacles 
of life. But God is the Creator, and is Life itself. 
Herein is one great difference between Him and 
us, — one principal sign by which the finite is dis- 
tinguished from the infinite. There is but one who 
is self-subsisting, — who is Life, and the Fountain 
of Life ; and that One is Jehovah, God. 

The essence of His life, — His own essence, — is 
Love. Here we come upon a distinctive New Church 
doctrine. Love is the inmost life of man. All his 
thoughts and actions spring from love. Some kind of 
affection or desire, — in other words, love, — is at the 
root of everything which he wills, thinks, and does. 
We are active or indolent, — full of life, or torpid 
and dull, — according to the activity of the love 



12 DIVINE LOVE. 

within us. Without love we might exist like stocks 
and stones ; but we should not be men. External 
circumstances may give form to a man's outward 
appearance, but it is his ruling love which deter- 
mines his real character. 

As with man, so it is with Him in whose image 
man is made. The essential life of God is love. 
The Divine love is, of course, infinite and perfect, 
utterly free from every taint of selfishness. In a 
w r ord, it is immeasurable and inexpressible love of 
others. It is the cause why God created man and 
the universe for his sake. The very nature of love 
is to be active. It is not content to be alone. It 
requires objects on which it may bestow itself. He 
who is all Love must, therefore, have something to 
love ; and so He made the worlds, and man to 
inhabit them. We live for no other reason than 
because the Lord God loves us. And since He so 
loves us, His great end is that we may be truly 
good and happy. 

But another fact must be remembered with regard 
to love. It not only seeks those on whom it may 
bestow itself, but longs to be reciprocated. In this 
way alone is its joy made full. Every one may 
know this by his own experience. Accordingly 
man is not only loved by God, but is endowed with 



NATURE OF LOVE. 13 

the capacity of loving Him in return. By means 
of love two persons are drawn together, if the love 
be sincere and mutual. They are brought spiritually 
near to one another, and have community of thought 
and purpose. In each other's society they take the 
greatest delight. The case is the same between God 
and man. Whenever a man loves the Lord with 
all his heart and soul and mind and strength, he 
is interiorly conjoined with Him, and the object for 
which he was created is accomplished. But if man 
is to reciprocate the Divine love, he must be in a 
state of freedom ; for without freedom, action truly 
reciprocal is impossible. All men feel this. There 
is no genuine love which is not spontaneously and 
freely given. The human race, therefore, are en- 
dowed with freedom, and their freedom is most ten- 
derly guarded by their Heavenly Father, to the end 
that they may return the love which He has for them, 
and so may be eternally conjoined with Him. Thus 
the design which He has in view is one which 
reaches far beyond this world. It can be consum- 
mated only in everlasting life in heaven. Hence 
the Divine purpose with regard to men is to bring 
them into, and, with their free cooperation, to create 
a heaven of angels from them. 

This proposition is but a corollary to the doctrine 



14 DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM 

that God in His essence is Love. For, since He is 
Love, He must have those whom He may love, and 
who can love Him in return ; He desires to com- 
municate to them His own infinite happiness ; He 
wishes that they should enter into intimate and 
loving relations to Himself, and that these relations 
should not be partial and transitory, but thorough 
and permanent. 

Love, then, is the most living of all things. Every- 
thing else is dead in comparison. When creation is 
reduced to its original element, in final analysis, 
Divine Love remains, — the soul and centre of the 
whole. But divine love does not operate blindly 
and ignorantly. It is always united to divine wis- 
dom. If, from infinite love, God has created the 
universe, He has done so by and according to 
wisdom as great as the love. These twain in 
Him are inseparable, — Love and Wisdom. They 
are the perfect will and understanding, which con- 
stitute the mind or spirit of God. His love mani- 
fests itself to our sight as goodness, and His wisdom 
as truth. 

Now, granting that the divine nature is in its 
essence infinite love and wisdom, or goodness and 
truth, we see that, as a necessary consequence, God 
cannot do anything which is not good and wise. 



GOD AL WATS MERCIFUL. 15 

For, if he could, it would be possible for Him 
to nullify His own nature, — to contradict His own 
essence as God. But He never can or does act 
except from love, and according to His own per- 
fect truth. This doctrine simplifies very much our 
general conception of Him and His operations. It 
admits us into the secrets of His Providence. It 
enables us to see that anything like anger is im- 
possible to Him. It shows us that no unworthy 
motive, such as mere desire for His own glory and 
dignity, can enter into His purpose in creation. It 
proves that the highest good and happiness of all 
men are the constant object of His care, and that 
He cannot be other than kind and merciful to every 
one, even to the devils of hell, who say, u What 
have we to do with Thee ? " 

Acting from this, His essential nature, He has 
ever striven to lead mankind to freely join them- 
selves to Him. Accordingly He has, from time to 
time, manifested Himself, and made revelations of 
His truth. This is what He did to the Israelites, 
when He gave the law from Mount Sinai, and 
guided them by the hand of Moses toward the land 
of promise. He had also declared himself to Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to others who lived 
before those patriarchs. But the crowning mani- 



1 6 GOD ASSUMED OUR NATURE, 

festation of all took place at that later day when 
lie, the one God of heaven and earth, assumed our 
nature, and dwelt in the world for more than thirty 
years, in a visible human form. 

Let us by no means suppose that the Lord Jesus 
Christ was a second Divine person. Let us not be 
seduced from our belief in the unalterable unity of God 
so emphatically proclaimed in the Scriptures, and 
confirmed by every rational consideration. The child 
that was born was " the mighty God," " the ever- 
lasting Father." It was only the fleshly tabernacle 
in w T hich He dwelt, which for a while produced 
the appearance of distinct personality. 

The humanity begotten of God and born of Mary, 
was something new. It then, for the first time, 
existed. By humanity is to be understood not 
merely a human body, but a human mind and fac- 
ulties, so far as these are ever derived from an 
earthly mother. That there was something in the 
Lord which He inherited from Mary, is shown in 
the fact that he was tempted, and suffered much. 
A divine and perfect nature cannot be tempted. 
Temptations cannot be felt as such, unless there is 
some disposition to yield to them. That part of 
the Lord's humanity, therefore, which came from 
the mother, was, like all other humanity, finite, 



TEMPT A TIONS. 1 7 

imperfect, and prone to evil. But from the Father 
descended the inheritance only of infinite perfection 
itself. Hence a conflict arose between that which 
was of God and that which was of man in Him. 
The outer maternal nature w r as tempted ; but from 
within, from the everlasting Father whom humanity 
veiled, was imparted an infinite power of resistance ; 
and so the temptations were always overcome. This 
process, however, could not long 1 continue without 
effecting a great change. In fact, the assumed hu- 
manity was by means of it gradually purged of its 
inherited evil tendencies, and was infinitely and 
perfectly regenerated. It thus gradually became ab- 
solutely divine. In and by means of the combat 
of temptations, the divine influence coming forth 
from the Father, encountered and finally subdued 
and put away every perverse and evil thing inherited 
with the body from Mary. Thus human imper- 
fections were by degrees displaced and replaced by 
divine perfection, and the humanity was regen- 
erated, or, to speak more correctly, w r as glorified, or 
made Divine. God became man, and man God, in 
one person. 

This glorification of humanity was the very pur- 
pose of the incarnation ; for by means of it the work 
of redemption was accomplished. Before its com- 
2 



i S THE IMPERFE C T HUM A NITT. 

pletion, and while it was in progress, there was an 
appearance of two distinct persons. Because there 
were two separate parts, — one Divine and the 
other human, — it seemed as if there were two 
separate beings, — one Divine and the other human. 
Thus the Lord often prayed to the Father. He 
said, " Not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He said, 
tfc My Father is greater than I." The reason for 
His speaking in this manner was, that at this time 
there was much in the assumed humanity which 
was not divine. He prayed to the Father, because 
His human nature, like that of any man, had its 
states of humiliation, when it felt the need of the 
divine power and assistance. But it was not so 
after His resurrection. Then Thomas called Him 
64 My Lord and my God," and was not rebuked. 
Then, when some of His disciples doubted about 
worshipping Him, He came and said unto them, 
"All power is given unto me in heaven and on 
earth." Before this time He was interiorly one with 
the Father. He had said, " I and the Father are 
one." u He that seeth me seeth the Father." But 
there w r as something in His outside human nature 
which was not in perfect accord with the Father, or, 
in other words, with the essential Divinity within. 
When the last temptation w r as over, — when the last 



THE GLORIFIED HUMANITY. 19 

of the good fight was fought, — there was no vestige 
remaining of the finite imperfections of the assumed 
nature ; but the Humanity in which God dwelt had 
become, like Himself, Divine. It was the adequate 
form and embodiment of ineffable Divinity. It was, 
so to speak, the infinite Divine body of an infinite 
Divine soul, in which, as Paul says so significantly, 
" dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. " 

The Lord's glorification is the perfect archetype 
of man's regeneration. Man, however, can never 
become more than spiritual or heavenly ; but the 
humanity of Emmanuel, God with us, was regen- 
erated until it became actually Divine. The Lord 
Jehovah added human nature to Himself, and dwelt 
within it ; He purged it of its hereditary evil ten- 
dencies, and glorified it ; and now, in this glorified 
human nature, He is evermore to be acknowledged 
and worshipped. 

There is one God, even our Lord Jesus Christ. 
In Him is a trinity, but not a trinity of persons. 
It consists of the inmost essential Divinity, the 
Divine Humanity, and the Divine proceeding sphere 
or influence. These three are the Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. Man, we are told, is made in the 
image, after the likeness, of God. In man, there- 
fore, we should expect to see the trinity finitely 



20 THE TRINITY. 

reproduced, and we find it in his soul, his body, and 
his outflowing life. These are what, in the most 
general terms, constitute a man. So is it with God. 
First, there is the essential divine nature itself, which 
is far above the sight or comprehension of any finite 
being. It is this which is meant in the words, 
" No one hath seen God at any time." " Ye have 
neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His 
shape." Secondly, there is the humanity which 
He assumed, —borrowed, as it were, — from the 
human race, w r ith all its inherited evil tendencies, 
but which He glorified or made divine, so that it 
became, and will be evermore, His tabernacle or 
dwelling-place with men. This is what is meant 
when it is said, " The only begotten Son, who is 
in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." 
"No one cometh unto the Father, but by me." 
" He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 
Thirdly, there is the life or influence which goes 
forth from the Lord God, sustaining the universe, 
and making Him everywhere present. By means 
of it He enters into the hearts of men so far as 
they are willing to receive Him. What the Holy 
Spirit is, is indicated by His own acts and words, 
when, after His resurrection, He breathed on his 
disciples, and said, " Receive ye the Holy Spirit." 



JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY GOD. 21 

Such is the one God, in whom is a divine trinity, 
like that of soul, body, and operation in man. Our 
idea of Him is greatly simplified, when we under- 
stand that He is, and is manifested, in all His fulness, 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no God beside 
Him, — a just God and a Saviour. In looking to 
the Lord Jesus Christ we look to God ; and He 
cannot be found elsewhere. As well might we 
attempt to see and know any person in this world 
apart from his bodily form and presence, as to see 
and know God apart from His divine humanity. 
Accordingly the New Church doctrine is, that the 
one God is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

But our conception of Him will be signally im- 
perfect, unless we have some knowledge of the 
purpose which He had, and the work which He did, 
in assuming our nature, and coming into the world. 

The Lord God came into the world, because He 
loved men, and because they, like sheep, had gone 
astray. They had disobeyed His precepts, broken 
His laws, and separated themselves from Him. By 
their evil life they had so greatly obscured their 
ideas of truth, that scarcely the knowledge of right 
and wrong remained to them. Nearly all power 
of resisting evil was gone. Hell seemed about to 
become victorious over heaven, and to gain for itself 



22 ORIGIN OF E VII. 

the whole human race. So far from being conjoined 
in heart and soul with their Heavenly Father, they 
were about to be swept away into utter and eternal 
darkness. Devils gained, sometimes, even bodily 
possession of them. 

Men had not always been in this condition. Their 
first state was one of peace and innocence. Being 
endowed with the faculty of freedom, — that they 
might return the Lord's love and kindness, and so 
come into communion with Him, — they abused their 
power, and began to take the first place for them- 
selves and their own selfish and sensual gratifica- 
tions. They did not all at once fall away from 
innocence ; but whenever any one indulged and 
confirmed himself in an evil, he transmitted to his 
children an inclination or tendency to the same evil. 
It was true from the very first, that, as is written 
in Ezekiel, " The son shall not bear the iniquity of 
the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity 
of the son." No actual sin was, or could be, com- 
municated by parents to their offspring. But what 
they did communicate was a tendency to commit 
the evils which they themselves had loved. Every 
man is conscious of having been born with various 
evil desires, and he may either yield to them, or 
resist and overcome them. During the period of 






THE FALL GRADUAL. 23 

which we are speaking, one generation after another 
gave way to their evil appetites, and thus strengthened 
their hereditary inclinations, and made them harder 
to conquer. This downward course continued until 
the coming of the Lord. Then human nature had 
become so perverted, that, if He had not come, there 
was no hope left. 

By taking on Himself human nature, with all its 
sinful inclinations, and its consequent liability to be 
tempted by evil spirits, He brought Himself face 
to face with the influences which threatened man's 
destruction. He engaged in direct personal warfare 
with hell and death. We have seen that He was 
always the victor in this warfare, and that thus He 
glorified His humanity ; but we have not seen that 
at the same time He performed a work for the 
whole race of man. 

He rolled back the encroaching tide of evil to its 
own dark limits. He reversed the preponderance 
of hell over heaven. He restored man to a state 
of spiritual freedom, in which he could think and 
do good as well as evil. Nor did He leave the world 
in doubt as to what good and evil were. Alike 
by His acts and words He made all things plain. 
He delivered the new and precious revelation of 
the Gospel, and prepared the way for a purer 



24 REDEMPTION BY TEMPTATION. 

religion and a better life. In a word, He gave 
mankind a fresh start on the course of their exist- 
ence, not only by actually reducing the power of 
their spiritual enemies, but by insuring them the 
means of resistance in all time to come. He did 
not miraculously wash away the sins of any one, 
nor the effects of them ; but he rendered it possible 
for every man who should be willing to do so, to 
receive of the Divine strength, and therewith to 
fight against all evils and evil tendencies within 
himself, and to subdue them. He did not redeem 
man merely by His death, but by a whole life of 
temptation and conflict. 

How fully, then, did He come down and enter 
into our human experiences. He knew all the 
joys and sorrows of infancy, childhood, manhood. 
Whithersoever the ways of our spiritual life may 
lead, we know that the Saviour has trodden them 
before us. And so He seems inexpressibly near. 

Thus the truths of the New Dispensation tell us 
of a God whom we can rationally and intelligently 
worship, — of One who is love itself and wisdom 
itself, and who always acts from infinite love 
according to infinite wisdom, — of One whose con- 
stant effort is to lead men to depart from evil and 
do good in freedom, and thus to be conjoined with 






GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 25 

Himself in a state of eternal blessedness, — One 
who for this great purpose came into the world, 
having taken upon Himself the form and nature 
of man, that He might bear our infirmities, and 
fight against the foes of our household, — One who 
was " tempted in all things without sin," and over- 
came in the temptation, — One who in His own 
person made humanity divine, — One whom w r e 
can ever think of and love as the infinite Divine 
Man, in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead, 
— even our Lord Jesus Christ. 



II. 

HOW TO THINK OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

I ?VEN if we could form, independently of divine 
* revelation, a distinct and true conception of 
God, it would be obviously impossible for us to come 
into any fixed and orderly relations towards Him, 
without some authoritative knowledge of His wishes 
and purposes. Granting that it is of all things the 
most desirable to draw near to and be conjoined 
with Him, we need to be shown a way in which 
this can be done. If hopes and aspirations con- 
cerning a life beyond the grave are to be aroused 
in us, we must first be assured that there is such 
a life ; we must have some idea of what it is, and 
how we shall attain to its joys. Who can tell us 
what our duty is, except our Heavenly Father, or 
some one instructed by Him? Where shall we look 

26 



NO KNOWLEDGE INTUITIVE. 27 

for eternal and immutable principles, save to the 
Rock of Ages? How can we bind ourselves to 
Him, and do His will, unless He gives us a definite 
expression of His will? 

It is idle to claim that men have intuitive knowledge 
of truth and duty. Apparently they do not have 
intuitive knowledge of anything. Unlike the lower 
animals, which by instinct know their functions, and 
settle into the order of their lives, — one generation 
exactly like another, — man has his faculties de- 
veloped only by instruction and experience. Little 
by little he gains all the knowledge he possesses. 
The duckling is no sooner hatched, than it runs to 
the water. It swims around on the surface, and 
picks up its food without hesitation or difficulty. But 
the young child is utterly ignorant and helpless at 
birth. He has absolutely everything to learn, unless 
it be the single act of imbibing his nourishment. 
His food must even be put into his mouth. He 
would starve before trying in the least to find it. 
He can neither creep nor walk. He can hold 
nothing in his hand. He cannot, with his eyes, 
distinguish between objects near and remote. By 
slow degrees, with the help of others, he learns to 
use his senses ; but no one is born into any kind 
of knowledge. 



28 NEED OF A TEACHER. 

While this is true with regard to what is lowest 
and least, much more must it apply to the higher 
matters of human thought and life. Only by ob- 
servation, experience and study, do we find out 
anything about the earth which we inhabit, — its 
formation, its products, its history. Only by con- 
tinued and toilsome efforts, do we master any trade 
or vocation. In short, nothing seems natural to us 
except evil ; and even the form which our evils take 
depends in great measure on the circumstances in 
which we are placed, and the external influences 
which act upon us. 

Assuredly, if we have no intuitive knowledge of 
natural truths, we can have none of spiritual truths. 
If, without instruction, this world which is spread 
before our eyes is a sealed volume, still more must 
heaven be, which is beyond the reach of bodily sight. 
If, without knowledge imparted from some source, 
we are not able to earn our daily bread, still less 
can we expect to obtain, by no other than an inborn 
light, the treasures of life eternal. We must have 
a teacher, and that teacher can be no other than 
the Lord God Himself; for though there may be, 
among men, those who can give us correct instruc- 
tion, the lessons which they communicate must have 



GOD MUST BE RE VEAL ED. 29 

descended, originally, from the Father of all, — from 
Him who alone is good and wise. 

Thus far we have assumed that Divine Revelation 
is essential to the understanding of every other point 
in religion, even if without it we could have a clear 
and correct idea of God. But this last supposition 
is inconceivable. How can w r e make any such ex- 
ception? Who is there among us that owes his 
knowledge and belief respecting his Heavenly Father 
to his own unaided and solitary reflections ?■■ Who 
is there that, as a child, had any thought of God 
until the Divine name was told him by some other 
person? Surely the same answer must be made by 
every one. So far as we can tell, we should have 
known nothing about the Lord, — not even of His 
existence, — if we had not learned it by reading or 
hearing. We impart this knowledge to our chil- 
dren ; and most certain it is that no conception of 
it has entered their minds until w r e impart it. 

Why is it that so many millions of the earth's 
inhabitants worship idols and other false gods? 
Because no one has taught them about the true 
God, and it is a matter which they cannot study 
out for themselves. They transmit their supersti- 
tions from one generation to another, and no one 
has a doubt respecting them. Why is it that in 



3 o ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF 

many lands polygamy, suicide, child-murder, canni- 
balism, and such practices are allowed, which in 
civilized countries arc almost universally condemned? 
Why indeed, except because the Word of God sets 
before every Christian nation a loftier standard of 
conduct than is found elsewhere. The intuitions 
of the savage do not teach him that it is sinful to 
eat the flesh of his enemies. This was the custom 
of his father, and rested on the traditions of his 
ancestors. How can he be expected to do better 
than they? 

Some theorists are fond of asserting that, if a 
man leads a good, moral life, his religious views 
and principles are of no consequence. These men 
are ready to set the Scriptures aside, as quite 
superfluous. They believe in intuitions, — in their 
own instinctive knowledge of good and evil. To 
all such it can only be said, that w r hat they call 
intuitions are surely nothing real. The very exist- 
ence of their ideas of goodness is due not only to 
the fact that God has made a revelation of His truth, 
but to the circumstance that it w r as their good 
fortune to be born in a Christian land. If the place 
of their birth and residence were in a heathen na- 
tion, there is no reason to suppose they would be 
superior to the influences around them. It is, indeed, 



DIVINE RE VELATION. 31 

simple infatuation to pretend that men are no more 
enlightened, and have no higher ideal of truth and 
duty, than they would have if God had not spoken 
on Mount Sinai, or in the tuneful songs of David, 
or the sublime utterances of the prophets ; or had 
not walked on earth, and lived a divinely human 
life among men. The Bible, the authentic record 
of all these things, has exerted, and cannot fail to 
exert, a boundless influence over all who trust in 
the Lord God, and sincerely desire His guidance on 
the pathway of life. Those who affect to despise or 
ignore the Bible, are like dogs, which bite the hand 
that offers them food ; for the very light which 
shows them how to depart from evil and do good, 
shines out of this holy book. If it had never been 
written, — if it had not for thousands of years illumi- 
nated that part of the world in which these doubters 
live, — they would most certainly be enveloped in all 
the darkness of the darkest heathendom. 

But do not men have any instinct or intuition? 
Assuredly this capacity is not wanting, but it exists 
as perception, not as knowledge. We know nothing 
by nature concerning God, or the distinction between 
right and wrong ; but there is a power within us 
which makes us give assent, more or less strongly, 
to any truth when presented to the mind. If a child 



32 PERCEPTIONS INTUITIVE. 

is told that it is unkind and wrong to take a toy 
from his playmate, he feels a response in his own 
heart, saying, as it were, " That is so." If he is 
plainly taught that there is one God, he perceives 
that the fact cannot be otherwise. And as he grows 
to manhood, all these intuitive perceptions are kept 
fresh and pure by a good life ; they are deadened 
and destroyed by evil habits. 

It may seem as if argument were wasted in 
showing the necessity of Divine Revelation. Those 
who use the Scriptures, and endeavor to live ac- 
cording to them, do not doubt their value. Those 
who accept the Word as a revelation of Divine 
Truth, are perfectly satisfied with the assurance that 
the Lord w'ould never have made the revelation if 
it had not been necessary. It would, indeed, be 
useless and absurd to attempt to prove to men by 
argument what they already know by innate per- 
ception. And yet are we not all obtuse enough 
in this matter, to profit by a consideration of the 
causes which make us spiritually dependent on our 
Heavenly Father's words to us? May we not also 
truthfully say that influences are working at the 
present time, which tend to raise even honest doubts 
on the subject of Divine Revelation? 

It is said, for instance, that while much is to be 



SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 33 

found in the Scriptures which is obviously valuable, 
there is much which cannot be understood ; there 
are some statements which apparently contradict 
other statements ; some which seem to be contra- 
dicted bv the common operations of nature, and the 
discoveries of modern science ; some which seem 
to have no bearing on human affairs at the present 
day. Many men have honestly said, " We wish to 
believe, but cannot, — for we are required to give 
assent to incredible things." 

Here is a genuine difficulty, and one which no 
man need be ashamed of avowing. When, for in- 
stance, we read in the Bible about the Israelitish 
ceremonials, it is natural to feel that much of what 
is written has survived the day of its usefulness. 
The burnt-offering, the peace-offering, the trespass- 
offering, the incense, the tabernacle and its furniture, 
the cities of refuge, the scape-goat, the laws about 
leprosy, and other topics which occupy many chapters 
in the Old Testament, — of what worth are they to 
us? Of what account, again, are most of the his- 
torical details? It is recorded at length how the 
land of Canaan was conquered and divided among 
the tribes, — that Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe 
of Manasseh remained on the east side of Jordan, 
— that Judah dwelt in the south, Ephraim in the 
3 



34 SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES. 

middle of the land, and Dan at the extreme north. 
We are told, with great minuteness, what towns and 
cities fell to the lot of each tribe. What use can 
possibly be made of these and similar particulars? 
How can they be, in any great degree, conducive to 
religious life and growth? I pass over the mystery 
of creation, — the evident discrepancies between the 
testimony of the rocks and the literal narrative in 
Genesis, — and say nothing of other like difficult 
questions, of a similar nature, which are familiar to 
all intelligent men. The chief point to remember, — 
a point on which there can be but one opinion, — is, 
that such great difficulties do actually exist, and that 
the Christian world is becoming quite unsettled on 
the subject of the Scriptures ; and, furthermore, 
that the systematic theology of the past affords no 
rational solution of the hard problem. 

The doctrines of the New Church enable us to 
understand the Scriptures by showing that they are 
symbolically written, — that all of their meaning is not 
contained in the sense of the letter, — but that within 
the literal sense are higher spiritual senses, enfolding 
an infinitude of truth. These statements, however, 
are not intelligible without farther explanation. 

In the first place, the fact that the Word is 
Divine, does not rest on any mere assertion. It bears 



POWER OF THE SCRIPTURES. 35 

ample witness of itself. Those who are really affected 
by the Scriptures, perceive in them a power far tran- 
scending that which is felt in any other writings. 
They are sensible of an influence exerted by them, 
which appears to be more than human. The simple, 
literal meaning of a verse, as received into the un- 
derstanding, by no means accounts for the whole 
impression which it may produce. Indeed, it would 
probably be the general and concurrent testimony 
of good and spiritually-minded men, that there is 
vastly more in the Scriptures than they have under- 
standing or language to express. It is something 
which can be felt, but not uttered. Little children 
often feel the beauty of the Word, even before 
their minds can take in its literal meaning. 
Observe them, sometimes, when they are repeating 
the Beatitudes, for instance, and you cannot doubt 
that they are more or less affected beyond the 
extent of their mental capacity, by the quietness 
and peace of those comforting words. There 
is, moreover, abundant evidence that good and 
wise men, in various ages of the world, have 
been well aware that the help which the Scriptures 
gave them, and the tender feelings awakened by 
them, far outstripped the slow pace of their intel- 
lectual progression and receptiveness. 



36 THE WORD DIVINE IN ITSELF. 

The truth is, the peculiarity of the Word consists 
not only in its having been communicated by God 
Himself, but in the fact that the quality of Divine- 
ness is in it. It is as much superior to other books, 
as the Lord is superior to men. No one surely can 
imagine that what is expressly dictated by Him who 
is infinite, should be like the writings of men. It 
must partake of the nature of its Author, and must 
be, like Him, infinite. It must reach far beyond the 
necessities of the occasion on which it was originally 
given. It must furnish food for angels in heaven 
as well as for men on earth. We may read and 
study it forever, and yet not begin to exhaust the 
truth it contains. 

This is the precise ground which the New Church 
takes in all its teachings about the Scriptures. The 
Word is really, in itself, divine. It is not merely a 
book divinely authorized and transmitted. It is 
evident, therefore, that its full meaning is not made 
known to one who understands it only according to 
its common literal acceptation. On the contrary, 
the literal sense is but the lowest form and expres- 
sion of Divine Truth, — the outermost garment, 
which God, considered as the Truth itself, has put 
on, in order that He may come within the sight and 
comprehension of men on earth. As one garment 



THE LETTER AN ADAPTATION. 37 

may enclose many others, so within the sense of the 
letter are interior degrees of meaning, which serve to 
cover, and yet to reveal the infinite divine wisdom. 

The literal sense of Scripture is an adaptation of 
the truth to the fallen condition of mankind. In 
no way does this fact appear more clearly than in the 
Lord's dealings with the Israelites. They were less 
advanced in spiritual intelligence than the Christian 
Church which followed them. Their laws and cere- 
monies are a perfect expression of their state. Be- 
cause the Jews could not rise above a sacrificial 
worship, which was purely a religion of forms, 
therefore this kind of worship was commanded 
them. Because they had no disposition or ability 
to receive interior principles of religion, therefore 
they were instructed in eveiy minute particular of 
outward conduct and observance. Practices were 
permitted to them, which, in the brighter and purer 
light of Christian doctrine, were disallowed. The 
Lord referred to an instance of this sort, when He 
said to the Pharisees, "Moses, because of the hard- 
ness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your 
wives : but from the beginning it was not so." Nor 
was this the only occasion when He drew a contrast 
between what was said " in old time," and His own 
more spiritual instruction. 



33 THE OLD TESTAMENT 

Now the meaning of these sayings in the New 
Testament is not that the Jewish Scriptures were 
superseded by later revelation. Our Lord is explicit 
on this point. He says, " Think not that I am come 
to destroy the Law or the Prophets : I am not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil." Again : " Had ye believed 
Moses, ye would have believed me ; for he wrote of 
me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall 
ye believe my words?" There is no inconsistency 
between the two revelations. Together they form 
one continuous and connected Divine Word. But 
the literal sense of the New Testament is of a more 
internal character than that of the Old. It was 
given to men who were in a higher spiritual state. 
The internal meaning of the tw r o is entirely harmo- 
nious. The same divine spirit is in them both. 
The New Testament is a fulfilment of the Old ; 
confirms, illustrates, and t explains it; but it does not 
contradict or annul it. 

In external form, therefore, the Jewish Scriptures 
are what they are, in consequence of the character 
and circumstances of the Jews themselves ; but be- 
cause they are divine, they contain within the sense 
of the letter, an infinitude of spiritual meaning. 
Every ceremonial observance, every historical detail, 
however unimportant it may seem in itself, is, when 



NOT SUPERSEDED BY THE NEW.y) 

better understood, seen to be expressive of some prin- 
ciple or experience of man's spiritual life. Nothing, 
then, is obsolete. Nothing is lost. But things which 
have been covered are revealed, and things which 
have been hid are made known. The letter is not 
dead, but living, with an infinite spirit within. The 
Gospel, no less than the Law and the Prophets, has 
its spiritual sense, although its literal sense is for the 
most part not so far removed from spiritual sub- 
jects of thought. 

The idea of an interior, symbolical meaning within 
the letter of Holy Writ, is not altogether new. It 
existed to some extent among the Jews, and in the 
primitive Christian Church, although no clear system 
of interpretation was ever developed until Sweden- 
borg's day. The letter of the Word itself plainly 
intimates that there is such a sense. It teaches that 
the Lord, at His coming, fulfilled, and that He came 
to fulfil, every jot and tittle of the Law and the 
Prophets. We know that He did not fulfil them 
in any natural way ; He must, therefore, have ful- 
filled them spiritually. Every Christian believer is 
forced, indeed, to recognize the necessity of giving, 
to some extent, a spiritual interpretation to the Scrip- 
tures, and is in the constant habit of so doing. Any 
one who reads the prophecies about the Messiah's 



4o NECESSITY OF 



coming will find it impossible, in the light of the 
actual event, to interpret them literally. Who does 
not know that the Lord did not sit, in any earthly 
sense, " upon the throne of David, to order it, and to 
establish it, from henceforth even forever "i Who 
does not know that Jerusalem and Israel received no 
special or peculiar benefit from His presence, more 
than the rest of the world? Yet the language of 
prophecy makes constant allusion to them, insomuch 
that the Jews expected, and still expect, a mighty 
potentate to reestablish them in their own country 
with tenfold their former glory. " Break forth into 
joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem : 
for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath 
redeemed Jerusalem." " Israel shall be saved in the 
Lord with an everlasting salvation." In order to 
understand such passages as these, we are forced to 
seek some other Jerusalem than the chief city of the 
terrestrial Palestine ; some other Israel than the 
people who formerly inhabited it. It is the 
open and universal practice of professed Christians 
to explain them, and many other passages, in some- 
thing more than a literal way. They cannot be ex- 
plained on any theory of " figurative language," or 
"Eastern metaphor;" for who is to decide where 
metaphor ends and fact begins? Besides, no one 



AN INTERNAL SENSE. 41 

can be presumed to understand the mere style of the 
letter of the Old Testament so well as the Jews 
themselves. 

The principle which is thus almost unwittingly 
admitted with respect to certain passages is adopted 
by the New Church with respect to all. The whole 
Word is symbolically written. There is a spiritual 
sense in all the sacred Scriptures. Alike in the his- 
tories, the prophecies and the psalms, the gospels 
and the Apocalypse, there is a connected interior 
meaning underlying the sense of the letter. In the 
historical parts, this inner sense in no wise affects 
the truth of the narrative. From the time of Abra- 
ham downwards we read a story which describes 
actual earthly occurrences, notwithstanding the fact 
that deep within that story is another, which relates 
the verities of spiritual and eternal life. The chil- 
dren of Israel represent the Church, or the man of 
the Church, in all his possible tempations, difficulties, 
joys and triumphs. Prior to the time of Abraham, 
however, the narrative is not to be taken as literally 
true. It is historical in appearance, but not in fact. 
It was written mostly, if not entirely, for the sake 
of the spiritual sense, as is shown by the many 
peculiarities of the language, and difficulties of inter- 
pretation, which this portion of the text presents. 



42 DOCTRINE OF THE 

The best evidence of the divinity and holiness of 
the Scriptures is the connected spiritual sense within 
the sense of the letter. When we are confronted 
with statements that the facts of geology are opposed 
to the account of creation in the book of Genesis, 
our answer is, that more than a hundred years ago, 
before the science of geology was born, Swedenborg 
showed that the earlier chapters of that book were 
not to be received literally, but spiritually. They 
were not designed to teach us that the earth was 
made in six times twenty-four hours ; but to reveal 
the seven successive stages by which man is fully 
regenerated, and prepared for heaven. 

When we are met with the declaration that the 
Bible is antiquated, that it is full of unimportant 
particulars about events which took place long ago, 
and in great part has no connection whatever with 
the people and circumstances of the present day, 
the reply is that no portion of the Word can ever 
cease to be useful, because in every verse and sentence 
there is a divine and heavenly meaning which treats 
of heavenly things. In this view there is nothing 
useless, nothing petty or insignificant, in the Scrip- 
tures ; but all is grand, far-reaching, universal, ever- 
lasting. There is a living soul in the apparently 



INTERNAL SENSE. 43 

dead body, — nourishment for the hungry spirit in 
the seemingly dry husks. 

The Word is written, we say, by symbols. But 
how are the symbols deciphered? What kind of 
symbols are they, and whence are they obtained? 

The answer to these questions opens to us an 
entirely new field of thought. There are no symbols 
in the book of life which are not found also in the 
book of nature. The world of matter outside of us 
is intimately connected with the world of mind 
within us. In other words, every natural object is 
the outward expression, form and embodiment of 
some spiritual idea. A smile on the face represents 
jov in the heart. Words on the lips express thoughts 
in the understanding. These examples are obvious. 
But it is equally certain that every animal, plant, 
and mineral, the clouds which float above the earth, 
and the waters that lave its shores, are, each 
of them, representative of some spiritual idea or 
quality. Thus all nature is manifestly full of mean- 
ing. Nothing that we see is without significance. 
Wherever we look, we behold in concrete form some 
affection or thought which has place in our souls. 
The things within us are either good or evil, and 
so is it with the things without us. Some appear 
beautiful and attractive ; others hideous and repulsive. 



44 CORRESPONDENCES. 

We know that outward objects are not in themselves 
good or evil, although they seem so. They are 
simply what they w r ere created, and can be no other. 
Since, then, they are not in themselves good or evil, 
they must be the embodied forms of things good or 
evil ; and this accounts for the impression which 
they produce upon us. 

The relation between things natural and spiritual 
is called correspondence ; and the Word is written 
in correspondences. The subject is broad enough 
to fill many volumes, but can only be indicated here. 
Suffice it to say, then, that if we would penetrate 
the higher meaning of Scripture, we must learn to 
translate every natural thing which is mentioned, 
into the spiritual thing which it represents. This 
is done by Emanuel Swedenborg to some extent, in 
his theological writings, but especially in the work 
entitled "Arcana Coslestia," where he explains, verse 
by verse, the books of Genesis and Exodus ; and in 
two smaller works on the Apocalypse. 

These writings are not of such a nature as to 
attract curious or superficial readers. The spiritual 
sense itself is so remote from the ordinary thoughts 
of men of the present day, that comparatively few 
are likely to become interested in its details. But 
no New Churchman can doubt that the number will 



IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE. 45 

be continually increasing as the world advances in 
its religious aims and requirements. A great point is 
gained, when the simple truth that there is a spiritual 
or symbolical meaning to the Holy Scriptures is 
perceived. 



III. 

THE WAY OF LIFE. 

A T the beginning of this Essay, the necessity 
of joining religion and life was touched upon, 
and we have briefly considered two of the most im- 
portant religious questions, — how to think of God, 
and how to think of the Scriptures. Let us now 
give a few moments' attention to the benefit which 
our daily lives may receive from our conclusions on 
these subjects. 

" What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 
It is, indeed, a solemn question. By the side of 
it all other matters dwindle to nothing. The worldly 
interests to which our thoughts are given, are utterly 
insignificant in comparison with this. As we think 
of it, two other memorable interrogatories seem to 
ring in our ears : " For what shall it profit a man, 

4 6 



THE YOUNG MAN'S QUESTION. 47 

if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for 
his soul?" 

How many times has the question been anxiously 
asked by doubting, trembling hearts ! In the precise 
words already used, it was once asked of our Lord. 
4 * There came one running, and kneeled to Him, and 
asked Him, ; Good Master, what shall I do that I 
may inherit eternal life'?" The Lord (because His 
assumed humanity was not yet glorified, and much 
of the finite imperfection inherited from the mother 
still clung to it) at first warned this inquirer against 
adoring what was, or might seem to him, merely 
human; saying, u Why callest thou me good? there 
is none good but one, God." Then He continued, 
M Thou knowest the commandments," and enumer- 
ated several of them ; or, as it is rendered in another 
Gospel, u If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- 
mandments. " And when the young man says, "Mas- 
ter, all these have I observed from my youth," Jesus 
answered, " One thing thou lackest : go thy way, 
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, take 
up the cross, and follow me." 

The Lord's own words, therefore, are our reply 
to the query. 



48 THE COMMANDMENTS 

u Thou knowest the commandments." u If thou 
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." The 
first thing to do is to keep the commandments. No 
answer could be plainer. But the young man in- 
quired which commandments were to be observed. 
Jesus said, " Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt 
not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou 
shalt not bear false witness ; Honor thy father and 
thy mother, and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." 

The inferences to be drawn from this response 
are of great weight. In the first place, if we would 
enter into life, there is work for us to do ; and this 
fact implies that we have power to do it. A kind 
and merciful Father, such as we know the Lord is, 
would never require of us anything we could not 
perform. The commandments were meant to be 
obeyed, and are given to beings who are able to 
obey them. Nothing else in Holy Writ occupies 
so prominent a place as the Ten Commandments, 
unless it be the idea of divine unity. They were 
written on two tables of stone by the finger of God. 
In the tabernacle and in the temple these tablets 
were placed in the holiest spot. They were in 
the inmost recess, — the Holy of holies, — and w T ere 
the precious treasure which all else enclosed and 



Mi )S TL ) ' PR O I II B I TOR ) \ 49 

guarded. It is not necessary to suggest how earn- 
estly and unceasingly the Israelites were exhorted 
to keep these commandments, nor how impressively 
they were taught that their happiness or their misery 
depended on their obedience. And what was spoken 
by the mouth of Moses and the Prophets, was re- 
affirmed in the Gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

To keep the commandments, then, is the first duty. 
But, for the most part, they are prohibitions. They 
tell us what not to do, rather than what to do. 
u Thou shalt not kill." " Thou shalt not commit 
adultery." We draw, therefore, from their pro- 
hibitory form, our second inference, that man is 
naturally inclined towards all these evils. If not, 
why should he be taught that his very first step in 
the way of eternal life is to shun them? That he 
has to do this, is what the Scriptures everywhere 
declare. u Wash you, make you clean, put away the 
evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to 
do evil ; learn to do well." " Depart from evil, and 
do good, and dwell forevermore." When the Lord 
was about to appear, John the Baptist preceded 
Him, to prepare the way. He " came preaching, 
and saying, Repent ye : for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand." He baptized them with water unto 
repentance. The Lord Himself, also, is constant in 
4 



50 NEED OE REPENTANCE. 

His exhortations to repent. His words are, " Repent 
ye, and believe the Gospel. " "Except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish. " Surely He would not 
use such words unless w r e had need of repentance. 
The commandments would not be stated in the form 
of prohibitions, unless we were prone to the evils 
they forbid. If we had no disposition to kill, to 
commit adultery, and to steal, then the command 
not to do these things would be needless. It would 
only suggest wickedness of which we were before 
ignorant. But the Decalogue tells us only what we 
need to hear. It applies to states of life in which 
we are sure to be. Every man who is born into 
the world has cause for repentance. To each and 
all, these words of the Lord are addressed : " Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

We are, then, plainly taught in the Scriptures, 
that men are naturally inclined to all kinds of evil, 
and that, if they would be happy hereafter, they 
must shun these evils in obedience to the divine 
commandment. But between inclination to evil and 
actual sinfulness there is a great difference. The 
New Church finds no warrant in Scripture for saying 
that all mankind are born into a state of condemna- 
tion on account of the sin of Adam. It accepts, 



1IEREDITAR T E VIL. 5 1 

rather, the doctrine prophesied by Jeremiah: " In 
those days they shall say no more, The fathers 
have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth 
are set on edge. But every one shall die for his 
own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, 
his teeth shall be set on edge." Or, as it is written 
in Ezekiel : " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. 
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, 
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the 
son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be 
upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall 
be upon him." 

The doctrine of the New Church on the subject 
of hereditary evil, has been already stated. Man is 
endowed with freedom that he may freely do his 
Heavenly Father's will, and so become conjoined 
with Him in heart and soul forever. But freedom 
to do right implies, necessarily, the possession of 
power not to do it, — or, in other words, freedom 
to do evil. He can use his freedom for its legitimate 
purposes, or he can abuse it. At some time earlier 
than history recalls, he began this abuse. He began 
to turn away from the Lord, and to seek his own 
selfish pleasure, and thus a change in his disposi- 
tion commenced. The evil which the ancestor 
committed and confirmed in his own life, was 



5 2 THE GRADUAL FALL OF MAX, 

transmitted to his descendants, not in the foim of 
actual evil or sin, but in the form of tendencies or 
inclinations to commit the same evil. Every man 
was still endowed with power to resist these ten- 
dencies and overcome them, and many did so, and 
elected to keep the divine commandments, and lived 
the life which leads to heaven. But many others 
chose to gratify their evil appetites, and thus took 
the downward path which leads to hell. Gradually 
the evil influence extended and preponderated over 
the other. One generation after another, considered 
as a whole, confirmed its evil inheritance, and added 
to it, until at the birth of the Lord hardly any 
good remained upon earth, and the precious pearl of 
freedom was almost lost ; it was no longer easy 
to tell what goodness was, — hell was usurping the 
place of heaven in men's minds. The day had come 
of which Isaiah had prophesied : u From the sole 
of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness 
in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores ; 
they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither 
mollified with ointment." 

The Lord did not, at His coming, annihilate he- 
reditary evil. He fought against it in His own 
humanity, as it came to Him from Mary ; and 
from that humanity He entirely removed it. It 



EFFECT OF THE LOR US COMING. 53 

still remained, however, a part of every man's in- 
heritance from his ancestors, in the form of natural 
disposition, though not without change. In the 
conflict which He carried on in His own person, 
lie encountered evil spirits, — the dire enemies of 
man, — and destroyed their preponderance in human 
affairs, and restored to men moral and spiritual 
freedom, so that every one would be as well able 
to choose good as to choose evil. History does not 
tell us that any miraculous transformation of human 
nature was effected by His advent. But it shows 
that a change took place in the conditions of human 
life. Men began to breathe a new atmosphere. 
They conceived higher ideas of truth and duty, and 
received fresh impulses to be faithful to those ideas. 
Moreover, God, in His glorified humanity, had 
become, and ever was, present with them, as he 
had never been before. Yet they were not to be 
regenerated, except in perfect freedom. No other 
way of entering into life was found, but that of 
keeping the commandments of their own free choice. 
But we need not enlarge on this subject. It is suffi- 
cient to appeal to consciousness, if we would know 
of the present conditions of our existence. 

And what answer does consciousness return? 
Does it not tell every one of us, that as soon as 



54 EVIDENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 

we know anything, we know we are inclined to 
feelings and practices which are not good? Is not 
its testimony that from the very first day we re- 
member we have been in need of prohibitory 
precepts? Do we not clearly require to be told, 
"Thou shalt not"? There can be no doubt of it. 
And, furthermore, we do not, and cannot feel that 
we are guilty and deserve punishment, except so far 
as we yield to our evil desires, and to the tempta- 
tions which they induce. 

But some one says : "I do not wish to kill ; I 
have no desire to steal," — and so on through all 
the commandments. Is that really so? There is 
more than one way of violating these precepts. 
They can be broken internally and spiritually, as 
well as externally and naturally. The body is not 
the whole man. Indeed, in the strictest sense, it is 
no part of him, but only the machine which he uses 
to accomplish natural work. If, then, we would 
know how well we keep the commandments, we 
must look much deeper than bodily acts. Though 
we may not lift a murderous hand against our 
brother, the spirit of murder may be in our souls, 
and we may abstain from killing for no other reason 
than fear of the law, or of the loss of reputation. 
Or, if we do not acknowledge a desire to kill, we 



INTERNAL OBEDIENCE. 55 

ma\ yet know that it would be pleasant to injure him 
unawares, or, at least, to know that some one had made 
him sutler. In either ease, the spirit is essentially 
the same. It is hatred, which is spiritual murder. 
Hatred, if all outward restraints are removed, finds 
its only full expression and fruition in the destruction 
of its victim. In like manner, the act of the burg- 
lar or highwayman is only one kind of stealing. 
To steal is to take from another anything which 
belongs to him, — whether it be his natural or spir- 
itual possessions. There is the spirit of theft, — 
that spirit which takes delight in enriching one's 
self without regard to the rights of others. In 
every species of fraud the cloven foot appears. He 
who deceives in weight or measure or quality of 
his wares, or for his own profit takes advantage 
of another's ignorance, or withholds from the gov- 
ernment his just amount of taxes, disobeys the 
command, " Thou shalt not steal." And so far as 
we do not in heart shun and abhor all such acts, 
and the feelings which lead to them, we need to 
remember and apply the precept. The Lord teaches 
us that the Decalogue can be violated internally as 
well as externally. For example, He says : " Ye 
have heard that it was said to them of old time, 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto 



S6 THE COMMANDMENTS 



you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust 
after her, hath committed adultery with her already 
in his heart." And He speaks in a similar manner 
of other precepts. 

But there are deeper and more internal ways of 
violating these commandments than any which have 
been mentioned. " Thou shalt not kill," for instance, 
is applicable to a desire to destroy the souls of men. 
A common form of profane language is the wish 
that God may damn, or everlastingly punish, the 
object of anger and imprecation. It is often little 
more than a verbal formula which bad usage has 
rendered customary. But it could have originated 
in nothing else than the desire, of which it is the 
exact expression. The mere conception of such a 
phrase shows conclusively of what depraved feelings 
the heart is capable. Hatred, when indulged, knows 
no limit. It does not stop at the bodies of men ; it 
would murder even their souls. Nor yet does it 
pause here. It aspires to the Divine throne itself. 
It would, if it were possible, destroy the Lord, and 
blot out His name. So, also, of stealing. To exert 
such an influence over another as to deprive him 
of true principles of life, which would make him 
a good man, is to steal from him. And we steal 
from the Lord when we claim as ours the righteous- 



TO BE IXTERIORL T KEPT. 57 

ness and merit, the kingdom, the power, and the 
glory, which belong to Him alone. Again : it is 
a principle in human nature, which may not be 
generally known, but which will bear the test of 
observation and experience, that those w T ho indulge 
themselves in adultery, or in lust for it, cherish in 
their hearts other and corresponding evils still more 
deep and subtle, — the desire to adulterate and falsify 
all things which are good and true, by proving right 
to be wrong, and wrong to be right, — the desire to 
deny the Lord, and pervert the truths of the Word, 
and profane whatever else is pure and holy. 

The necessity of abstaining from evil in the heart, 
as well as in the outward life, naturally leads us to 
consider the motives by which we should be ever 
actuated. To mere external morality there are plenty 
of natural inducements. If we conform to the con- 
ventional rules of good behavior, our fellows will 
hold us in esteem ; but will spurn us and cast us 
out if we deviate from them. There is no great 
virtue, and to most men there is no very great diffi- 
culty, in keeping within the limits of the world's 
approval ; though there are few who have not some- 
thing to conceal even from the eyes of the world. 
But when we come to feelings and thoughts, we 
lose the natural and selfish motive which com- 



58 EVIL MUST BE SHUNNED 

monly prevails in dealings with men. The question 
arises, What reason is there for being good other- 
wise than in outward appearance? Why did John 
the Baptist say that the axe must be laid to the root 
of the trees? In answering this question we cross 
the boundary line between superficial morality and 
deep* seated religion. 

The answer is, that all evil, whatever be its rela- 
tion to men, is in direct opposition to the Lord. 
He who consciously indulges any evil of any kind, 
is guilty of sin against God. This, then, is the rule 
to be ever borne in mind : Shun evils, both iizterior 
and exterior, because they are sins against 
Him who is Goodness itself. Thus only can we 
come into conjunction with Him. It is not enough 
outwardly to observe the commandments. They 
must be kept as His commandments. Not without 
purpose did He proclaim them from Mount Sinai 
amid thunders and lightnings, and miraculous tokens 
of His presence. It was that they might evermore 
be associated with Himself, and that men might 
know that in keeping them they lived in harmony 
with Him, and in breaking them committed sin 
against Him. For the same reason, He so emphati- 
cally reiterated them, when He was present in the 
flesh. 



AS SJN AGAINST GOD. 59 

We must, therefore, shun evils, because they are 
sins against the Lord God. Let us teach the same 
thing diligently unto our children, placing before their 
the idea of avoiding wrong because the Lord 
forbids it, and of doing right because He approves it. 
In this way, and no other, can the foundations of 
religious character be laid in their minds. If we 
encourage them to look mainly to what the world 
does and says, we are guilty of gross neglect and 
injury. The fear of man should be nothing com- 
pared with the fear of God. 

"Behold," says the Lord, " I stand at the door, 
and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open 
the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with 
him, and he with me." To " hear his voice, and 
open the door," — that is our part. What is it to 
hear his voice, but to obey Him, and His command- 
ments? "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
And to open the door, what can this be, but to 
prepare the way for Him by removing from our 
hearts all things that prevent His presence in us? 
From time to time we must examine ourselves, and 
humbly try to see, not only what acts we commit, 
but what feelings and thoughts we cherish, which 
are in opposition to our Heavenly Father. This is 
true repentance, — to search out the evils and sins 



Co TRUE REPENTANCE. 

to which we ourselves are prone, to confess them 
before the Lord, to pray to Him that we may be 
delivered from them, and so to begin a new life. 
To say, or even for a while to strongly feel, that, 
like all other men, we are miserable sinners, is not 
repentance. But to abstain from the particular 
thoughts and practices which are the delight of our 
natural life, — to refrain from these, because they 
are sins against God, — in other words, to deny 
ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him, — is 
repentance. It is not easy, or naturally pleasant, 
thus to keep the commandments. Men are always 
glad to find some excuse for not doing so. They 
are rejoiced if they can persuade themselves that 
they are good enough as they are, and have no need 
of repentance, or of giving up any evil thing which 
they love. They are glad to cherish the belief that 
they are saved by faith alone, without effort on their 
part. Still the irrefragable truth remains, which is 
expressed in so many passages of Scripture, but in 
none more beautifully than in this: " Blessed are 
they that do his commandments, that they may have 
right to the tree of life, and mav enter in through 
the gates into the city." 

But here a question meets us which has caused 
much difficulty and perplexity in times past. If we 



FREE AGENCT. 61 

claim to be saved by a life according to the com- 
mandments, do we not claim to be saved by our own 
merit and righteousness? It has been supposed that 
we necessarily do, and that therefore we overlook the 
Divine presence and operation. But the Scriptures, 
seen in the light of the New Church, give a very 
di fie rent response. 

It is true that none is good but one, — God. It 
is true, to the fullest extent, that God has in Himself 
all life, wisdom and power. Man, of himself, has 
none of these things. Yet in a certain measure they 
are in him ; for the Lord gives them to him. And 
He gives them to him to use as his own. 

In other words, the Lord is life itself, and the 
source of life, while man is but its recipient. Fur- 
thermore, it is not given once for all at the beginning 
of our existence, nor fitfully, from time to time ; 
but steadily, unceasingly, perpetually. It is like the 
heat and light of the sun. As the sun's rays, con- 
tinually poured forth, vivify the material creation, so 
the Lord's life, continually proceeding from Him, 
fills and sustains the universe. Preservation is per- 
petual creation. Thus we live by virtue of the 
Divine life in us, which is unceasingly imparted. 

Now the life which is in man is none the less 
the Lord's, because man is a free agent, and is 



62 HUMAN FREEDOM CONSISTENT 

allowed to use it as his own. Freedom is the law 
of human existence, — the condition whereby men 
are able to reciprocate the Lord's love, and so to 
be truly conjoined with Him in an eternal com- 
munion. We have power to do good or to do evil. 
But if we believe that that power comes to us a 
constant gift of the Lord, we claim no merit for it. 
It is His power, not ours, though He lets us use it 
as ours. So too, when any one, by means of his 
freedom, — which, like all other things, is the Lord's 
gift, — chooses a good, rather than an evil life, it 
is because he obeys an impulse which the Lord 
communicates, and because he follows the truth 
which the Lord has taught him. Whatever good- 
ness and wisdom manifest themselves in him, are 
likewise of the immediate divine bestowal. The 
most he can say is that he has consented to receive 
the gifts which the Lord desired to give him, — he 
has agreed to walk in the way in which the Lord 
has been trying to lead him. As well might the 
moon boast of her nocturnal brightness, as man of 
anything which he possesses. Sometimes her face 
is turned away from the sun, and then she is not 
seen. But soon a little streak of light appears on 
her outer edge ; and every night it grows and grows, 
until she is face to face with him, and radiant with 



WITH DI I r INE OMXIPOTENCE. 63 

his glory. But the glory is not hers. Just so it is 
with man. lie is good or evil, — in a heavenly or an 
an internal state, — just so far as his spirit is turned 
towards the Lord, or averted from Him. Just as 
far as he is a willing recipient of His influence, he 
shows forth the divine glory. Surely the goodness 
and wisdom that are in him are none the more to 
be ascribed to himself, and stolen from the Lord, 
because his acts are voluntary, and his w r ill is free. 
The children of Israel chose whether they would 
be led by the Lord through the wilderness, or not. 
He used no compulsion. They did not take a single 
step save by their own free choice. Yet it was He, 
and not themselves, who brought them up to the 
promised land. In like manner it is He who brings 
us to heaven, if we ever come thither ; although no 
part of the journey is taken without our full consent 
and cooperation. 

It is, therefore, a necessary part of a truly religious 
life, to ascribe all goodness, wisdom, and power to 
the Lord alone. The angels who have been safely 
brought through the perils of the wilderness, — who 
have permitted their evils to be removed as sins 
against God, — know far better than any one else that 
they have not done any of the work by their own 



64 THE ONE THING LACKING. 

strength. To them nothing is so delightful as to 
give to God all glory and praise. 

The young man who came to the Lord inquiring 
what he should do to inherit eternal life, thought 
that he had fully kept the commandments. " All 
these," he said, " have I observed from my youth." 
But the Lord said to him, " One thing thou lackest : 
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to 
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : 
and come, take up the cross, and follow me." That 
is to say, his work was not complete until he was 
ready to devote all that he was, and all that he 
had, to the Lord and His service. " Sell whatso- 
ever thou hast." It was not merely material riches 
which were referred to, but everything which per- 
tained to him, and which he regarded and valued 
as peculiarly his own. This he was directed to 
sell, and give to the poor. That is, he was to hold 
all that he had in trust for the good of those who 
had need of it. He was no longer to felicitate 
himself on any possession of his own. But what- 
ever might seem to be his, was really the Lord's, 
and was to be put at the divine disposal. 

We infer from the narrative that this young man 
had kept the commandments in an outward, con- 
ventional manner. He had, doubtless, satisfied the 



THE J§> I T E S TION A NS WERED. 65 

demands of society, and gained the approbation of 
his fellows. But he had not deeply repented. He 
had not entered on that course of self-denial which 
alone indicates sincere repentance. If he had, he 
would have felt his own weakness and dependence. 
He would not have clung so tenaciously to his great 
possessions, but would have known and acknowl- 
edged that there is nothing good which is not of and 
from God, and nothing evil which ought not to 
be shunned as opposed to Him. And he would 
have ascribed all good things to Him from whom 
they come, and to whom they belong. 

The doctrines of the New Church give a clear 
and rational answer to the question, "What shall 
I do that I may inherit eternal life ? " for they teach 
us that we must shun evils of every kind, because 
they are sins against God ; that this work must be 
done as from ourselves ; but, at the same time, we 
must believe and acknowledge that the will, the 
understanding, and the power to do it are of and 
from the Lord alone. 



IV. 

THE LIFE HEREAFTER. 

' | ^HE peculiar views of the New Church on the 
life hereafter have probably attracted more no- 
tice than any of its other doctrines, caused, doubtless, 
by the interest which the subject naturally excites. 
It is a matter of profound concern to every human 
being to know what he can of the future that lies 
before him, after his brief term of existence in this 
world is finished ; and it is a matter that seems more 
directly personal than any other religious question. 

We ought not, indeed, to depreciate the importance 
of correct information concerning the life beyond the 
present. If we keep our desire for knowledge duly 
subordinate to the higher purpose of drawing ever 
nearer to the Lord, and so becoming better and 
wiser men, there is no doubt that it will be to us 

66 



INTERCOURSE WITH SPIRITS. 67 

a help and a blessing. But such knowledge in itself 
never was, and never can be, the chief staple of 
religion. Those are greatly mistaken who suppose 
that doctrine concerning the future state is the 
central point of New Church belief, and that the 
followers of Swedenborg are only one sect of spir- 
itualists. It should be stated, therefore, for the in- 
formation of such persons, that the New Church does 
not hold real or pretended intercourse with departed 
spirits, nor consider it useful and orderly to do so, 
but, in fact, regards it especially injurious and dis- 
orderly to seek such intercourse. Furthermore, if 
they approved this practice, they would never look 
to spirits, who are but finite human beings like them- 
selves, for sound teaching on religious subjects. The 
Lord alone, speaking in the Word, is their authority. 
Swedenborg himself, although he says that his spir- 
itual sight was opened, and that he was thus let into 
the spiritual world, nevertheless emphatically and 
repeatedly takes occasion to declare that he has not 
received anything which pertains to the doctrines 
of the church from any spirit or angel, but from the 
Lord alone, while he was reading the Word.* 

Seeking, then, to give the subject its proper place, 
— neither making it a substitute for, nor yet sepa- 

*"True Christian Religion," no. 779. 



6S MAN'S BODY NO PART OF HIM. 

rating it from, religion, — let us see what is revealed 
to the New Church about the spiritual world and the 
future life. It will be found full of interest and 
comfort. 

The simplest and most natural approach to the 
whole matter seems to be through the knowledge 
which each man has of himself. That is to say, 
every one knows that he has two parts, — a soul and 
a body. The soul is, in the strictest sense, himself, 
the living and sentient being who is called a man. 
The body is but the house in which the soul dwells, 
— the medium of its communication with the outer 
world, — the instrument which it must use to ac- 
complish natural purposes. By coming into the 
bodily presence of any one, we avail ourselves of 
the most direct and complete means of communica- 
tion with him which is possible in this world. We 
see his body and its motions, we hear his voice, 
and catch the expression of his countenance. But 
in reality we do not see him. For he is not a body, 
nor a gesture, nor a look, nor a voice. Neither is 
he a combination of all these things. But he is 
within them all. They proceed from and surround 
him. They are the agents and messengers, which 
do his will, and transmit his influence, in this world. 

Now this distinction between the soul and the 



MAN A SPIRITUAL BEING. 69 

body illustrates the difference between the spiritual 
and the natural everywhere. It demonstrates the 
fact that there are things which are real, — nay, the 
most real of all, — that are invisible to outward sight. 
But we ought not thence to conclude that they can 
never, in any wise, become visible, nor that they 
are without form and substance. Material eyes can 
discern only those objects which are, like them- 
selves, material. The same remark is true of all the 
bodily senses. Immaterial, and physically impal- 
pable things, may therefore exist without limit, un- 
observed around and within us. We know already 
that they exist within us. 

Spiritual objects, in like manner, can be seen only 
by spiritual eyes. We might gaze and gaze forever 
with our natural organs of sight, and as far as any- 
thing spiritual is concerned, we should gaze into 
vacancv. Though spiritual beings are all around 
us, we should never see them. 

But man, since he is essentially a spiritual being, 
must have the power of discerning spiritual things. 
It could not be otherwise, if spiritual things have 
any existence, and if there is a spiritual world, in 
which man is ever to live. For of what use w r ould 
that world be, or what pleasure would it give to one 
who was unable to distinguish any person or thing 



70 THE SPIRITUAL BODY. 

within it? It seems, therefore, a fair inference that 
man, by virtue of his immortality, and capacity for 
spiritual life, has the power somewhere within him 
of apprehending the sights and sounds, and all other 
realities, of the immaterial and spiritual world. 

But what is the nature of this power? It will be 
readily admitted that mental faculties are not wanting 
for taking cognizance of everything which can be 
seen and felt. But how are spiritual things to be 
seen and felt? Paul says, " There is a natural body, 
and there is a spiritual body." So saying, he gives 
us our answer. The spiritual world is brought to 
the mental consciousness through the spiritual body, 
just as the natural world is through the natural body. 

Mark the apostle's words. He does not say, 
u There is a natural body, and there will be a spir- 
itual body." But the spiritual body now is. Every 
man has within his natural body a spiritual body, 
which is the eternal dwelling-place of his soul. It 
is the medium through which life is constantly im- 
parted from the soul to the physical organs and 
senses. It is invisible, because it is spiritual ; and 
the eyes which we are now using, being made of 
earthy matter themselves, can behold only earthy 
matter. Whenever the spiritual body is seen, it must 
be seen by spiritual eyes. 



SPIRITUAL SIGHT. 71 

We know from the Scriptures that angels and 
spirits have sometimes appeared to men on earth. 
The explanation which has just been given, fully 
accounts for this phenomenon. They were seen 
by the opening of the spiritual eyes of those who saw, 
— the eyes of their spiritual bodies, which look into 
another world than that which is the conscious scene 
of present life. While man's natural life continues, 
his spiritual sight is not opened, except in rare cases, 
for especial purposes. He has duties to perform here 
in this world, — duties for the sake of which he w r as 
born here, and which demand the whole of his time 
and attention. When It is best for him to go into 
the other world, or have direct dealings with any 
of its inhabitants, he generally dies, and lays aside 
his corporeal frame forever. But it is not always so. 
Angels and spirits have sometimes appeared to men 
who were still in the flesh. The beloved disciple 
John was in the island of Patmos, when, as he says, 
he u was in the spirit on the Lord's day," and beheld 
many wonderful things. The things which he saw 
were not of this world. He saw " one like unto the 
Son of man." He "beheld, and heard the voice of 
many angels ; * * and the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands." He " saw heaven opened." All of which was 



72 SCRIPTURE EXAMPLES. 

made possible by the fact that he was " in the spirit." 
And what can this mean, except that he was in the 
conscious use of his spiritual, not his natural fac- 
ulties, — of his spiritual, not his natural body? He 
did not, so far as we know, stir from his place in 
the island of Patmos. The island itself is not re- 
corded to have been disturbed by any unusual events. 
But he saw with his spiritual eyes, and heard with 
his spiritual ears, things which were not seen and 
heard by other men there. 

Examples of such sight might be largely quoted. 
The glad tidings of the Lord's advent were an- 
nounced to the shepherds by an angel. " And sud- 
denly," so it is written, " there was with the angel a 
multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and 
saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good will toward men." It was not with their 
outward ears that the shepherds heard the song, but 
with the ears of the spirit they listened to the angelic 
choir. So too, Moses and Elias, when they appeared 
to the three disciples on the mountain, and suddenly 
disappeared, at the time of the Lord's transfiguration, 
could have been seen by no material eyes. Samuel, 
also, or, some one representing him, had spiritual 
communication with Saul. In all these and many 
other cases in the Scriptures, — indeed, in every 



OUR SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATES. 73 

instance where angelic or supernatural appearances 
are mentioned, — the only rational explanation to 
be given is, that the spiritual senses of the beholder 
were, for the time being, permitted to be active. 

The same thing might happen to an}' one of us. 
But such is not the established order of human life. 
It is none the less true, however, that we are essen- 
tially spiritual beings, that the spiritual world is even 
now our home, and that we are surrounded by its 
inhabitants. We do not see them ; we are not con- 
scious of their presence ; but, notwithstanding, they 
are ever with us. Every man is in spirit associated 
with those who resemble himself, and are in similar 
states of mind and life. The presence or absence of 
the material body has no effect upon this interior 
communion. One way in which the Lord endeavors 
to communicate to us good influences, is by angelic 
guardianship, as is written in the Psalms : " He shall 
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all 
thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, 
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone ; " and in 
another place, " The angel of the Lord encampeth 
round about them that fear him, and delivereth 
them." Allusion is made by the Lord to the unseen 
companions and guardians of little children, when 
He says, " In heaven their angels do always behold 



74 DEATH OF THE BODY. 

the face of my Father who is in heaven." In like 
manner evil spirits or devils are attracted by the 
sinful affections in us ; and so far as we indulge un- 
righteous thoughts and feelings, they are our familiar 
and favored associates. It is from them that all 
temptations come to us, as the Scriptures clearly 
indicate. If our spiritual eyes were opened at any 
time, we should see what kind of spiritual com- 
panionship we had drawn around ourselves. 

But this we cannot expect to see till death. And 
w T hat is death but the separation of the spirit, — the 
man himself, — from his material body, and his 
awakening in the spiritual world? He does not go 
on a long journey. He is not w T afted millions of 
miles to one of the stars. Still less does he sink into 
a long sleep, waiting for the time when he shall be 
clothed with his earthly body again. Those who 
entertain the latter view, understand Scripture in no 
less terrestrial a way than the Jews, who still look 
for the first coming of the Messiah, and deem it the 
sum of earthly and of heavenly bliss, to be gathered 
under His beneficent rule in Palestine and Jerusalem. 
The resurrection takes place in the spiritual, not the 
natural body ; and in the spiritual, not the natural 
world. The man wakes to consciousness in that 
realm which has always been the abode of his spirit, 



SPIRITUAL NEARNESS. 75 

and beholds with clear sight the beings who have 
hitherto been his invisible companions. The natural 
world is now closed to him. He has no connection 
with it, except as in thought and affection he is near 
to some who still remain behind in the world. 

The whole human family is one. Whatever may 
be their outward situation and circumstances, they 
are all interiorly consociated with each other, those 
being nearest to any one w T hose states of mind and 
life are most like his own, and whom he loves, and 
who love him, most dearly. Spiritual nearness is 
not controlled by the natural conditions of space and 
time. Though a friend be in the Indies, we may love 
him as well, and our souls be as firmly knit to his, 
as if our bodies were not far apart. How does the 
case differ if he is taken to the world of spirits, and 
we are left? It should, however, be understood that 
no mere natural fondness can afford the basis of a 
permanent spiritual relationship. This must rest on 
real affection and oneness of life and character. 

The doctrine distinctly announced by Swedenborg 
is, that all angels and spirits were formerly men on 
earth. They have been, and still are, human beings. 
When God made man in His own image, after His 
likeness, He stamped him with the highest mark 
which any finite creature can receive. There can be 



76 ALL ANGELS ONCE MEN 

none greater than the divine image except the Divine 
Being. Swedenborg does not, however, speak in 
opposition to the Scriptures in this matter. Those 
who believe that the Bible teaches that there is a 
distinct race of angels, will be surprised to find, on 
close examination, that no such instruction is given. 
The w r hole doctrine rests upon the w r eakest inferences, 
and is contradicted by many passages of a directly 
opposite character. Angels are always described as 
appearing to men in a human form like their own. 
They were often not to be distinguished from men. 
u There came," so it is said, " two angels to Sodom 
at even ; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom." But 
in the subsequent account these angels are repeatedly 
called men. So is it with the angel w T ho appeared 
to Manoah and his wife. So is it with the angels 
who were seen by the women and disciples at the 
Lord's sepulchre. In John's Gospel we read that 
Mary " stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 
and seeth two angels in white." In Luke it is, 
" Behold, two men stood by them in shining gar- 
ments." But perhaps the most striking testimony 
in all Holy Writ is found in the Apocalypse, where 
it is said that on two occasions John, being on the 
point of paying undue homage to an angel who 
spake with him, received the answer substantially 



MAN NOT CHANGED BT DEATH. 77 

the same in both cases : " See thou do it not : for 
I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the 
prophets, and of them which keep the savings of 
this book: worship God." The word " angel" liter- 
ally means "one who is sent," — the Lord's mes- 
senger. All men may become angels or messengers 
of the Lord, if they are willing to do His bidding, — 
to act out His will and pleasure, instead of their 
own. 

The key to the New Church doctrine of the future 
life is contained in the assertion that the spiritual 
world is the dwelling-place of human beings, and 
is precisely adapted to their needs. When they lay 
aside their natural bodies, no sudden or striking 
change comes over them. They are exactly the same 
men and women as before, only they are not visible 
to eyes made of flesh. They have bodies of spiritual, 
not natural, substances. Their sphere of conscious 
action is changed, but not they themselves. 

Nor is the mode of the Lord's dealing with them 
essentially different from what it was during their 
life in the world. He still leads and governs them 
in freedom. They can go hither and thither, and 
can join themselves to whomsoever they will. Yet 
in one respect the conditions of their existence are 
altered. The prophecy is fulfilled, that there is 



78 THE JUDGMENT. 

nothing covered that shall not be revealed, nor hid 
that shall not be known. When human beings pass 
into the other life, they lose, after a little while, 
all power of dissimulation. Whatever their internal 
life and character, the external conduct and manners 
are brought into perfect harmony with it. They 
cannot be one thing and seem another. The spiritual 
body cannot veil the soul's thoughts, but is the 
transparent medium through which they shine. The 
good cannot fail to show themselves good, and the 
evil to show themselves evil, not only to themselves, 
but to others. 

When it becomes apparent what the true interior 
character of each one is, spirits are divided and 
separated from one another accordingly, or, more 
correctly speaking, divide themselves. There is 
nothing arbitrary in this division. There is no com- 
pulsion used, by which the righteous are established 
in heaven, and the wicked j:>lunged into hell. All do 
but follow the instincts of their orderly or perverted 
nature. Those who are in similar love and life are 
attracted to each other, and are correspondingly 
repelled from every one else. The good take no 
pleasure in the company of the evil, nor do the 
evil, when all disguise is thrown off and becomes 
impossible, enjoy the company of the good. Even 



HEAVEN A STATE OF MIND. 79 



heaven itself would be but a place of torment to 
infernal spirits. Of their own accord men separate 
and go in opposite directions, — the pure and inno- 
cent to heaven, the impure and depraved to hell, — 
each to the abode where he thinks he will be most 
happy, and is, indeed, least miserable. 

Heaven and hell are in their essence, not places, 
but states of mind. Milton recognizes this truth 
when he says, — 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." 

The meaning of this is that our happiness chiefly 
depends on what is within us, not on what is outside 
of us. We may have all the natural possessions 
which we can desire, and yet, unless heaven is in 
our hearts, we cannot know what it is to be truly 
happy. This is what the Lord teaches, when He 
says : " The kingdom of God cometh not with ob- 
servation ; neither shall they say, Lo here ! or lo 
there ! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within 
you." 

And if we ask what constitutes the kingdom of 
God within us, we need not wait long for an answer. 
The Lord's kingdom is His government. It is estab- 
lished in us when we are in harmony w r ith Him, — 



So THE LIFE OF UFA VEX. 

when we love to do His will rather than our 
own, — not otherwise. If we are in harmony with 
Him, we live and act from Him. We strive to 
keep the commandments, and to shun all evils, 
because they are sins against Him. We are per- 
vaded by love, which is the finite image of His 
love. His love, we know, is infinite and perfect 
love of others. His kingdom, therefore, is built up 
within us, just as far as the ruling principle of our 
lives is like His own, and is love to the Lord with 
all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, 
and with all the strength, and love for our neighbors 
as for ourselves. 

" On these two commandments hang all the Law 
and the Prophets." In heaven it must be that they 
hold undisputed sway. No one will doubt that all 
who become angels must needs be actuated by love 
of the Lord and love of the neighbor, as the motive- 
principles of their existence. 

But every love has its own peculiar mode of 
manifestation, and its own peculiar delight. The 
love of others finds its full expression only in doing 
good to them. Those who are animated by this 
love, can neither possess nor imagine any pleasure 
so great as that which comes from adding to 
the welfare and happiness of their fellow r -beings. 



THE LIFE OF HELL. Si 

Angelic life, therefore, cannot be a life of idle 
ecstasy. It must rather be the life of those who 
love, and live for, one another. The fact, already 
referred to, that some angels perform the service of 
spiritual guardians to men, shows that acts of love 
and kindness must be in the regular order of their 
lives. 

It is evident that no two things can be more 
antagonistic than the love of the neighbor and the 
love of self, when neither of them is subject to the 
other. The delights which spring from these loves 
are also diametrically opposite. So far as self-love 
reigns in a man, every other consideration is sub- 
servient to it. Nothing gives him any satisfaction, 
except as it contributes to his own selfish interest 
and enjoyment. It may be sensual lust, it may be 
the love of dominion over the souls or bodies of 
men, it may be an insatiable appetite for accumu- 
lating worldly property ; but whatever form self-love 
takes, it holds the benefit and happiness of others 
entirely subordinate to its own. Nay, it is wholly 
indifferent about the neighbor's welfare. It even 
burns with hatred against all who stand in the way 
of its designs. Self-love is essential hate. 

Surely no argument is needed to show that 
those in whom love of the Lord and the neighbor 
6 



S3 FREEDOM OF CHOICE. 

rules, and those in whom love of self rules, can take 
no pleasure in the society of one another. Their 
lives have nothing in common. They are not in- 
terested in the same things. The respective ends 
which they have in view are diametrically opposite. 
What one delights in, the other loathes ; what is 
torment to the one, is pleasure to the other. When 
these facts are borne in mind, and when it is also 
remembered that love of others ruling in the heart 
makes heaven, and love of self makes hell, we can 
understand why, in the world of spirits, a voluntary 
separation should take place, and why between the 
two there should be a great gulf fixed, across which 
is no passing. 

Heaven, then, is not given as an arbitrary reward, 
nor hell as an arbitrary punishment, to any one. 
But he in whom heaven is, will carry it with him 
wherever he goes, whatever his outward circum- 
stances. The converse proposition is true concerning 
him over whom the essential lusts of hell have do- 
minion. But in the other life, as has been said, 
there can be no permanent disguises. A person 
must seem what he is. This principle applies not 
only to his acts and words, his face and manners, 
but, when he is in his own chosen abode, to all 
things that surround him. For in the spiritual world 



CONDITION OF THE WICKED. 83 

the law of correspondence exhibits its full force. 
Whatever is without a man, — his clothes, his habi- 
tation, and all the surrounding scenery, — corresponds 
exactly with the things that are within him. The 
outer and phenomenal world is born of the inner 
and essential world. The external heaven is as bright 
and beautiful as the internal ; and hell appears as 
dark and miserable as it is within, although its in- 
habitants, in their self-delusion, may not know of 
their degradation and wretchedness. 

But let us not fall into the gross error of sup- 
posing that anything like peace and happiness can be 
predicated of evil spirits through their ignorance of 
their real condition. It is true that they are in the 
home of their own choosing, and are less miserable 
than they would be anywhere else. They are not 
outwardly punished and tormented, except so far as 
is necessary to keep them from acts of injury to 
others, and for the preservation of external order. 
Their bodies are not consigned to everlasting flames. 
But the lust of self-love burns within them, and this 
is hell-fire, — the fire that never can be quenched. 
Restless and insatiable, it is ever impelling them to 
acts which they are forbidden to commit, and which, 
if committed, are followed by severe suffering. 

These views of the future life are really but strict 



S 4 JUDGMENT NOT ARBITRARY. 

logical deductions from what we know of ourselves 
and our own nature. The burden of proof rests 
upon those who maintain that after death the char- 
acter of the Lord's dealings with us is suddenlv 
changed, and that He appears in the light of an 
arbitrary despot, who has made heaven a region 
of delight, and hell a place of torment, and who 
receives into the one, and condemns to the other, 
whomsoever he w T ill, thereby determining their end- 
less happiness or misery. Let us rather believe that 
He is good to all, and that His tender mercies are 
over all His works. Let us believe that He is kind 
even to the unthankful and the evil, and excludes 
no one from heaven, who is willing to enter therein. 
But let us not believe that human happiness, either 
here or hereafter, can depend on extrinsic circum- 
stances, — on any mere admission into a certain 
place. Surely the state of the mind and life must 
have some influence over this matter ; and heaven 
itself can possess no attractions to him in whose 
heart hell is seated. Let us believe that the king- 
dom of God is within us ; or, at least, if it is not 
w 7 ithin us, that we shall find it nowhere else. 
Though w r e should pass the gates of pearl, and 
w r alk the golden streets, all would be emptiness 
and bitterness unless heaven were within us. And 



FUTURE STATE OF CHILDREN. 85 

it will never be within ns, unless we are willing to 
receive it by living a heavenly life. 

These remarks have referred only to those who 
leave this world in adult age. As to infants and 
children who pass to the other life, the doctrines 
of the New Church give us the comforting assurance 
that they are all saved, and become angels of heaven. 
For when they die, their characters are not formed. 
They have confirmed themselves in no ruling prin- 
ciple or habit. Hence they are accessible to heavenly 
influences, and are invariably brought under them. 
So does the Lord teach in Matthew, when He says : 
" It is not the will of our Father who is in heaven, 
that one of these little ones should perish." 



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